The view into the new DART Orange Line station at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The station, which opens August 18 to the public, is located just outside Gate A10. (G.J. McCarthy/Staff Photographer)

What you need to know now that DART (finally) reaches D/FW Airport

Officials are excited about D/FW’s new light-rail terminal, while residents’ excitement depends on where they live.

The hour is nigh, North Texas: Light-rail trains are almost ready to carry passengers to and from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Early Monday morning, Dallas Area Rapid Transit will debut its DFW Airport Station, outside Terminal A. It is the new western terminus of its Orange Line. Many consider this a watershed moment in the region’s transportation history and a major coup in Dallas’ quest to stake claim to “international city” status.

Travel times from DART stations to DFW Airport

The DFW Airport Station is DART’s 62nd light-rail station. DART allows overnight parking at its stations for free, but does not secure the lots or assume responsibility for vehicles. Here’s a look at stations with parking and the approximate length of time it will take to get from each station to the airport.

Navigating Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is the nation’s fourth busiest airport and the region’s biggest economic engine. Now that DART goes to the airport, travelers may want to use some airport transportation they don’t usually need when driving. Here’s a look at how to navigate the airport once you get off the train – or how to get back on DART once you’ve landed in North Texas.

“Strategically, this is a major accomplishment,” said Mayor Mike Rawlings.

It is undoubtedly DART’s biggest accomplishment in its 31-year history. The way officials and regional leaders see it, the airport-rail link brims with promise. They say it will dramatically bolster North Texas transit options, attract more conventions and provide a smooth welcome to international visitors.

“Imagine what that’s going to do for the region,” said Faye Moses-Wilkins, a DART board member since 1999.

On a personal scale, it now gives North Texans a key option to consider when it comes to getting out of town. Many are excited at the prospect of forgoing costly airport parking or cab trips in favor of a $2.50 train ride.

“It’s hard to drive there; it’s hard to park,” said Ashley Brown, who lives in East Dallas.

Of course, not everyone sees the station as a game changer, especially those who don’t live or work along rail lines that are spread out across great distances outside of downtown.

“It takes me longer to drive to DART than to get to D/FW,” said Cal Lacasse, who lives in Flower Mound.

Taking the train will force many area residents to navigate the airport’s shuttles and people mover system — transit modes they may have never had to use before. And because the station is on the western side of DART’s network, folks along the northern and eastern lines will have to weigh lengthy travel times against potential savings.

While those options are left to residents to consider, the opening leaves the region — and particularly Dallas — with a new set of bragging rights.

“Great, international cities are connected cities,” said Rawlings.

Joe Mougher waits for a ride home outside of the A Terminal at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Mounger, a Richardson resident, said he would definitely make use of the Orange Line once it was operational. (G.J. McCarthy/Staff Photographer)

Decades in the making

In 1983, voters in more than a dozen cities agreed to create a 1 percent sales tax to form and fund DART. They were promised from the beginning that there would one day be a light-rail line to the airport.

The agency’s light-rail network began in 1996 with the opening of 11.2 miles that used downtown as a hub. The lines have grown out from the city center since then. Today, four lines connect South Dallas, downtown, Uptown and several area suburbs. It is the longest light-rail network in the nation. Monday’s opening is the agency’s 62nd station and will give it a 90-mile-long system.

DART also has a commuter train to Fort Worth called TRE, which it jointly operates with The T, Fort Worth’s transit agency. Airport shuttles will continue to connect to the CentrePoint Station on that line.

The Denton County Transportation Authority operates trains from Denton to Carrollton. They tie in to DART’s Green Line at the Trinity Mills Station.

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Official celebration

A bevy of local, state and federal officials celebrated the milestone Friday with a ribbon cutting at the station and a luncheon at the Hyatt Regency DFW.

“Certainly it’s the culmination of a lot of effort,” said Gary Thomas, DART’s president and executive director.

Among those in attendance were former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown and a litany of DART board members, local mayors and city council members.

Many wore orange ties, hats or dresses as a nod to the Orange Line.

Hutchison spoke at the luncheon and got teary-eyed as she remembered her late husband, Ray Hutchison, a bond attorney and former legislator who was instrumental in the creation of both the airport and the region’s largest transit agency.

“Ray loved D/FW Airport and DART,” she said. “And he was so instrumental in getting it right.”

DART’s new advertising campaign plays up all of the international connections out of the airport, which is now reachable by trains.

Posters and ads say, “Dallas to Dubai,” “Irving to Ixtapa” and “Plano to Paris.”

Friday’s ceremonies continued the international theme. Dragon dancers greeted people as they arrived at the airport station. A mime welcomed them into the hotel. Belly dancers posed for pictures outside the luncheon ballroom.

“It’s just an exciting moment for the region,” Thomas said.

Measuring success

Lacasse, the Flower Mound resident, doesn’t believe the new station will change much for DART ridership or the costs of maintaining the agency. A study of 16 metropolitan areas by the Brookings Institution found that between 1970 and 2000, most newly created rail networks failed to increase the share of people using transit to get to work each day.

According to a June analysis by The Dallas Morning News, that trend held true in North Texas from 2000 to 2012 as the area’s three transit agencies spent billions building today’s infrastructure.

Lacasse said if DART were successful, it would be able to pay for its operations, maintenance and expansions with fares from riders instead of sales tax revenue from member cities. He said the agency erred in using downtown Dallas as a hub because it makes east-west trips too cumbersome.

“It was designed poorly to begin with,” he said. “It should have always started at the airport.”

A DFW Skylink train moves overhead at the new Orange Line stop at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Riders of the Orange Line may have to use the airport’s shuttles and people mover systems to reach their gate once at the airport. (G.J. McCarthy/Staff Photographer)

Downtown growth

But officials hope the station helps downtown Dallas continue to grow. The city center lost its luster as a residential and social hub so the suburbs could shine. About 200 people lived downtown in 1996, the same year DART opened its first 14 stations on 11 miles of track. Now downtown is home to about 8,000 people with 5,000 new residential units in the works.

“This connects the most important airport in Texas to the growth we have in downtown,” he said.

Moses-Wilkins sees the station as a gateway that could help sell the region to visitors.

“Once they are on it, they’re going to want to explore our area and hopefully move here or move their business here,” she said.

Brown, the East Dallas resident, is just glad she’ll have something to direct people toward when they ask for a ride from the airport. She’s already planning to use it for an upcoming trip to Los Angeles.